DETROIT – America is getting back to work, and it needs pickup trucks.

Strong truck demand in March drove U.S. auto sales to their highest monthly total since August 2007, as everyone from oil and gas producers to local home builders raced to replace the aging trucks they held onto during the recession. Overall auto sales rose 3.4 percent to 1.45 million, according to Autodata Corp.

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Ford's F-150 FX2 is one of the best-selling pickup trucks in the U.S. GM, Ford and Chrysler sold a total of 154,722 full-size pickups in March, up 14 percent from a year ago.

Matthew Miller does some window shopping on a car lot in Omaha, Neb. Led by growth in the truck sector, U.S. auto sales rose 3.4 percent in the month of March, which is typically a strong month as Americans use IRS tax refunds as down payments. The Associated Press

“I think day-to-day business is the best it’s been in five years,” said Tim Parker, owner of a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealer in Hot Springs, Ark. Parker recently joined a Chrysler program that helps him stock pickups so he has inventory ready when business owners come calling.

March is typically a good month for the auto industry. Many car buyers put tax refund checks toward a down payment. And Japanese automakers, whose fiscal year ends in March, often juice sales with deals to end the year on a high note.

But this year had additional incentives for buyers. Fuel prices ended the month lower than a year ago. The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell to a five-year low during March. Interest rates are low and home values are rising. And the stock market – which is a strong predictor of auto sales – closed the first quarter with the S&P 500 at an all-time high.

Still, the pace of growth has slowed from last year, when double-digit gains were commonplace as Japanese automakers came roaring back after the 2011 earthquake in Japan. Auto companies are settling in for a period of slower but sustained growth.

Cars with the latest designs are enticing buyers. The redesigned Nissan Altima sedan outsold the Toyota Camry, the perennial midsize king, in March by 100 vehicles. That hadn’t happened since May 2011, according to Ward’s AutoInfoBank. The redesigned Honda Accord, which went on sale at the end of last year, also came close to outselling the Camry, which was last redesigned in 2011.

Small car sales have slowed, in part because gas prices are relatively low. AAA said the average price for gas fell in March for the first time in a decade, down 14 cents to $3.64 a gallon.

But pickup trucks made up for that. GM, Ford and Chrysler sold a total of 154,722 full-size pickups, up 14 percent from a year ago. It’s the third straight month that pickup sales have outpaced overall industry sales.

Pickup truck sales should keep increasing through this year and at least into early next year, said Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting for LMC Automotive, a Detroit-area forecasting firm.

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